Nature reserved a treat for us today and it has been much appreciated. A nocturnal visit to the bathroom in the wee hours, say around five in the morning gave us reason to believe that we would be facing yet another day of rain, because it was pouring, heavily. You don't mind rain when it occurs at night; it just makes you feel comfortable and sleepy as you creep back into bed to sleep off the illusion that bright sunny weather awaits in the wings of an incipient day.

Lo and behold, out came the sun by morning wake-up, the house fully illuminated, the outside beckoning. Mind, it kept withdrawing every now and again in a colossal tease show, but eventually that golden orb of life decided to stop playing its game of suspense, to sit firmly on its throne.

 

 

We took our time over breakfast, though Jackie and Jillie never take their time over their meals. We've made a wan effort at teaching them some civil manners but they're quite immune to our efforts. They chomp down, wait for more, and when they're fully satiated, sleep it off. This morning they had their kibble, tiny bits of old cheddar, breakfast melon and chopped chicken left from yesterday's chicken soup. That was topped with an egg scrambled and divided between them.

 

 

While they slept it off, we enjoyed our own breakfast, taking our sweet time, reading the newspapers, talking about some issues in the news and generally relaxing after a hard night's sleep. Who says retirement is boring? After breakfast Irving went out to prepare our new garden bed, topping it off with a mixture of fresh soil, peat moss and sheep manure. 

 

After I'd cleared away the kitchen, all of us went out to join him and suddenly I found myself digging up dandelions on the lawn, when I had been under the impression I'd already done that and there were no more to be done. Then we hauled ourselves off to the ravine for an early afternoon tramp, prepared to enjoy the sun, the warmth and the breeze that counterbalanced the sun.

 

Although for the most part in our two-hour hike, we had the trails we chose to ourselves, at the outset a group of young girls came through and quickly passed us, and Jackie and Jillie, without missing a beat escorted them over to the first bridge that crosses the forest creek. By the time we reached the bridge, speeding helter-skelter toward us was two familiar hounds, who immediately squatted mid-bridge to await Irving's notice.

 

After they had been satisfied that civility earns treats, they plunged into the creek to cool off from their exertions. Jackie and Jillie were keen to share cookies with them, not so interested in sharing the creek with them. We're just as happy to keep them out of the creek though we've never had to tell them they can't dive into it since they've never been interested. Since it serves as a storm system outlet for the municipality and no doubt has its share of farm runoff, we're just as happy they not venture into it.

 

On the upper ridge of the forest as we swung about to the main trail system we could see that the forest floor was more heavily impacted by the latest  rain event than it had been by previous ones; logical, since it had long since reached the point of saturation. The trails were not only soaked and muddy, but full of the detritus that last week's storm had brought down from the canopy.

 

Large pools of water sitting on the forest floor simply became larger and deeper to the delight of seasonal mosquitoes.  We actually had to wade through some of the trails, and in some areas the forest floor resembled a swamp. Our long and leisurely hike through the trails is a must for us, to make the quality of the day complete and assuring us that our two little dependants have been adequately exercised. Of course what exercises them does the same for us.